Jesus' Kind of Disciples

Pray before you read this, beloved. A strong probability exists that Lord Holy Spirit may reveal Truth to you here, the kind that messes with you. I received a message from Herb Hodges this week. In his email, our friend and teacher wrote:

It is my firm conviction that the command that Jesus gave in the Great Commission to “turn people into disciples” (the only command in His Great Commission) is not to be tampered with, but is to be taken literally. If Jesus had intended to say something else, He had clear language to use in conveying that “something else.” But He avoided other terminology such as “soul-winning” or “church planting” and used a term that includes all activities of the Christian life. I have heard His command in the Great Commission interpreted in several inadequate ways. The only thing that has ever satisfied my heart is to take these words literally and seriously, which means that I will spend my life being His disciple on His terms and seeking qualitatively to build disciples according to His model and His Mandate – that is, on His terms.

The importance of disciple-making to Jesus is revealed by His model, His method, and His mandate, and yet it is very easy for traditional interpretations to bury His emphasis and substitute inferior standards. Each individual Christian is responsible to be a disciple on New Testament terms, and to build other disciples as He commanded. That discipleship is to be standardized by Jesus only, not by the Christian’s dedication, or desires, or limits. That is, no Christian should determine the dimensions or set the limits of His life in Christ; that prerogative belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

Let me address you by addressing myself for a few lines. Do I as a Christian have a strategy to reach people who are without Christ? If not, am I willing to repent of my sin of indifference and inactivity? If I have a strategy, would it be more accurately described in terms of the mere duplication of Christians (basically, soul-winning), or in terms of the multiplication of Christians (winning people to Christ, then building them into reproducing disciples who will multiply in an enlarging way through future generations—as Jesus did)? As a committed Christian, am I more in the business of counting people, or more in the business of building people who count?

Just this morning, I was in a group of disciples in which five generations of disciples could be traced from one disciple-making believer, and each one in the succession is continuing to enlarge his network of multiplying disciples. … It is astounding to see what God can do with just one man who agrees with Him about the Strategy He commanded in the Great Commission. What a blessing!

Measure Herb’s comments against those of our Master Himself. Consider Jesus’ own words in our Experiencing God memory verse this week: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33, NIV).

My, these are challenging words! Such is the call to follow Jesus. My journey with Jesus this week included these words:

Day 1: If you want to be a disciple of – a follower – of Jesus, you have no choice. You must leave where you are to follow Him. You must make major adjustments in your life to follow God. Until you are ready to make any change necessary to follow and obey what God has said, you will be of little use to God (Experiencing God, pp 157-8).

Personal Prayer Response: O, God! Help me believe. Help me trust You totally. What could I honestly consider more important or valuable than You? Bring me to that place of absolute abandonment to follow You.

Day 2: … the God Who calls you is also the One Who will enable you to do His will (Experiencing God, p 163).

Personal Prayer Response: Lord, Your Word teaches: “For it is God Who is working in you, [enabling you] to will and to act for His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). I am amazed at and grateful for Your activity in our lives.

Day 3: … every step of faith could be interpreted as presumption by others. Only obedience and God’s affirmation of our obedience would reveal that we were doing God’s will (Experiencing God, p 165).

Personal Prayer Response: Dear God, this hurts! I have felt the sting of brothers opposing Your work in me. Help me to love and know and crave the joy of Your affirmation as I obey you rather than be dismayed, distraught, or discouraged when other believers misinterpret my surrender to You and Your ways as willful or selfish.

Day 4: God will reveal His plans and purposes to you, but your obedience will impact [read “cost”] you and others around you. … Not obeying God would be much worse (Experiencing God, p 168).

Personal Prayer Response: Lord, it is one thing for my obedience to cost me. It is a much harder thing when my obedience hurts the people around me, especially my family. Still, I trust You. I know You love me and the people near me. I know Your directions are right. I know You can be trusted to protect and provide for my loved ones.

Day 5: If you walk in a consistent relationship with God’s provision for you – the provision of His Son, His Holy Spirit, and His own presence in your life – then you should never come to a time when you do not know God’s will. Nor should there be a time when you are not enabled to carry out His will (Experiencing God, p 175).

Personal Prayer Response: WOW! My Lord, thank You for pursuing this kind of love relationship with me!

Pastor Rob

Pastor Rob Encounters God

I received a call the other night from a family in need. The hour was already late, and I was nearly finished running the Freshour Family Evening Shuttle for my children’s various practices and games. I was within 30 minutes of closing the world out for the rest of the day, when I would sit back with TV remote in hand and my feet propped up, all set to switch channels from NBA playoffs to NHL playoffs and even to the Tigers just playing awful. After all, as I tend to reason at that time of the day, I had already put in my 10-12 hours. Besides, I could better serve this family with a fresh day when I could focus my attention better on their need … right?

Still, I took the call (as I usually do) and began to pray for God to give me ears to hear and eyes to see (as I have learned I must always do) as the dear lady on the other end of the line began to pour out her heart. Though not members of our church, nor even occasional attenders in our services, apparently their casual connection with me through a couple of weddings made me the closest thing to a family pastor they knew. Right now, they needed a pastor to help them find God’s comfort in the midst of heartache, impending death, and grief.

The dear woman laid out her family’s need. Their daddy was dying. I listened, prayed, and then promised to come by the next day to visit with her and her family. Then I prayed with her on the phone and pledged again to contact her the next day. It was the best I could do. After all, the evening was fading into night, I was still on the last two legs of the family shuttle, and I was tired.

I hung up my cell phone, dropped my son off at the house, and began to pull back out of the driveway to retrieve my daughter. As I drove, I sang along with one of my praise CDs and mulled over my memory verses from Experiencing God. I had not left our subdivision before a still, small voice began hammering my heart, and an encounter with God ensued.

Rob, haven’t you been praying that God would reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways to you in fresh new ways that were clear and certain?

Yes, Lord. I want to recognize You at work around me, like You say You do. I want my dull senses to be rejuvenated and tuned in to Your activity so that I can be a part of what You are doing.

Rob, when you see something going on that only God can do, isn’t that your invitation to join Him?

Well, yes Lord. … What are You getting at, Lord?

Rob, what are the first things you think of that only God can do?

Only God can draw people to Himself and cause people to seek Him. The Bible says that no one comes to Jesus Christ unless the Father draws them (John 6:44). Also, no one is good or righteous on their own. No one seeks after God of their own initiative (Romans 3:10ff).

Rob, didn’t you just get off the phone with a lady who, along with her siblings and their respective families, was looking for God? Does that not sound like something only God can do? Have you not learned and professed to teach your own children that delayed obedience is disobedience?

Excuse me, Lord. I have a phone call to make, … and an appointment to keep.

An hour later, after getting all my kids home, I was on the road again. This time I was praying for God to give me His Word for this family gathered around their dying daddy. The Spirit of Truth reminded me what He inspired the beloved disciple to write in the Good News according to John 14:1-3, Jesus says:

Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also (HCSB).

The Lord directed me to share three simple truths with this dying man and his family. (He has since revealed five anchors for our faith to me from this text, but they will wait until another day). Here’s three truths we can use to share Jesus:

1. Heaven is a place – a real place. Jesus says He is going to a place, not a state of mind. Heaven is not some existence where our disembodied spirits ride clouds and play harps. Heaven is the meal for which this earthly life has been only an aroma, the hint, the foretaste. Heaven is real and immensely substantive. Heaven is where God lives, and where God lives is where we truly come to life.
2. Heaven is a prepared place. Jesus says He is preparing a place for us. The places He is preparing are perfectly suited for people to become all that God originally purposed for us to be. Imagine becoming again like Adam before the Fall – real flesh and blood, without sin or encumbrance, free to know God and walk with God and talk with God. Heaven is a place prepared and suited perfectly for that purpose.
3. Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. Though God does not want anyone perish, He requires that any who would enter heaven be prepared by repentance and faith in His one and only Son, Jesus (1 Peter 3:9; John 3:16).

I asked my dying friend and his family, “Are you prepared?” I ask you today, “Are you prepared?”

How does a person prepare? The only way to prepare for Heaven is to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life (John 14:6). Receiving Jesus is as easy as ABC:

A – Admit to God you are a sinner (Romans 3:23).
B – Believe that Jesus is Who He says He is (Romans 10:9-10).
C – Commit your life to know Jesus and to make Him known (James 2:26).

Friend, Heaven is indeed a place, a prepared place for prepared people. I have heard it said that we are prepared to live until we are prepared to die. Are you prepared?

Pastor Rob

Faith Is the Victory!

Many of our church’s core leadership are currently engaged in their seventh week of Experiencing God. This is a critical juncture in this study and in the life and future of this church. We are at that place where we must decide whether Experiencing God will simply be another study course, another workbook we have filled in, or it will become a new life direction, a process that will fill our lives, indeed, take over our lives, and define our life together as His church.

Frankly, I cannot imagine how anyone who has continued to this point with Experiencing God does not find the realities God is revealing to be nothing less than revolutionary. Each week, each day now, God drives truth deeper into my heart very much as a sledgehammer pounds a stake deep into hard ground. Consider our Scripture memory verse this week:

Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Consider as well these daily samples from this week’s journey:

Day One: The way you live your life is a testimony of what you believe about God (p 134).

Day Two: When God lets you know what He wants to do through you, it will be something only He can do. What you believe about Him will determine what you do next (p 139).

Day Three: When people see something happen that only God can do, they come to know God (p 142).

Day Four: Jesus rebuked them [His disciples caught in a storm at sea], not for their human tendency to fear but for their failure to recognize His presence, protection, and power (p 149).

Day Five: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). … Faith without action is dead! (p 150). A faithful servant is one who does what his Master tells him, whatever the outcome may be (p 151).

As a Christ-follower, I yearn to know Jesus more intimately and to make Him known more intentionally. As your pastor, I am acutely aware of my responsibility to God and to you to lead, to perceive what God is up to and champion His activity in our fellowship. I often look out my study window and ask God to reveal Himself, His purposes , and His ways to us. To my dismay, more often than not all I see is piles of dirt. When I persist in prayer, however, and ask God to show me what He is doing and what He wants to do through me and His church, I envision a vibrant community of faith here …

… a church that reaches and touches the lives of hundreds – yes, hundreds, of children and their families,

… a church that brings healing and hope to broken men and women, broken marriages, and broken families,

… a church that stokes a white-hot fire in a new generation of Christ-followers that will burn to the nations,

… a church that makes disciples who make disciples and sends disciple-makers to the ends of the earth,

… and a church that plants new churches in Howell, Hartland, Africa, and beyond.

What would it take to see these visions become reality? Such a God-sized idea requires more people engaged in ministry than we presently have – people who may never have served before, but are willing to try, and people who have given up the notion of “retirement” from active service in church life and who now re-invest themselves for the rest of their days to the advance of God’s purposes. These visions require more energy, more devotion, more passion, more evangelistic zeal, and more biblical disciple-making fervor than we currently display. We need more parking, more space, new buildings, and new uses of existing properties. We must equip and enable new leaders, younger leaders, and older leaders stepping up to support them. Honestly, to set our feet on a path toward God’s purposes in His church requires more money than we can raise ourselves. Essentially, we need more faith in Jesus Christ – Who He is, what He says, and what He can do.

How we respond to these demands reveals what we truly believe about God. When I dare even to entertain the possibilities of what God may be calling us to be or become, I am almost immediately attacked by adversaries. Here is a short list of the thoughts the enemy provokes in me:

Fear – I could never do that. People will laugh at me, ridicule me, or hate me. It’s just too big, too high, too deep for me.

Flaws – I don’t have what it takes. I am not smart enough or strong enough or cool enough or good enough.

Failure – I fall short every day. My psyche or my reputation would never recover if I failed at something so big.

Feelings – I am not comfortable with that. It chases away my calm and makes me feel uneasy.

Frustration – I get so frustrated when things are beyond my control. I don’t need anymore of that in my life right now.

Fraudulence – I am not everything I am cracked up to be. At least for now, I am the only one that knows that, right?

Perhaps you recognize the real problem right away. It is found in a one-letter word prominent in each explanation. I have a big “I” problem – self-centeredness.

Faith, however, is fundamentally Other-centered, God-centered. So, Faith says, “Do not fear. This is not about your flaws, failures, feelings, frustrations, or even the enemy’s accusation that you are a fraud. God’s reputation is at stake, not yours. He knows who and what you are. And He loves you.”

Faith only asks us: “What does your life prove about what you say you believe about God?”

Faith is indeed the victory! (1 John 5:4).

Pastor Rob

Amazing Love

Recently, I heard someone say, “No one anywhere under any circumstances is beyond the reach of the Gospel.” The Bible tells the stories of many people who appeared to be unreachable. One such man was named Saul. Several aspects of Saul’s life suggested he was a man who would never become a Christ-follower.

Saul’s family was wealthy. Wealth often presents a real barrier to the Gospel. People who have a lot of money and material possessions usually do not easily recognize how desperately we all need God.

Saul was highly educated. The Bible warns that knowledge without love tends to make people proud. Highly educated people are subject to the allure of elitist thinking that makes ideas like faith and grace and mercy and submission and servanthood seem simple-minded and archaic.

Saul was also extremely religious. The problem with religion is that it is man-centered and works-oriented. Religious people tend to believe they are good enough to get to heaven. Biblical Christianity is God-centered and grace-oriented. The Bible says that no one is good at all, to say nothing of being good enough for God. That’s why we need grace. That’s why we need Jesus.

Saul was Public Enemy #1 to the early church. He hated Christ-followers with a scary zeal. He was angry, ruthless, and cruel in his fanatical attacks against the early church.

On the way to capture more Christ-followers, Saul was knocked off his high horse by a personal encounter with none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus revealed Himself to Saul. He showed Saul that his fervent religious attacks were actually personal attacks against Jesus Himself. Rather than serving God as he thought, Saul was fighting against God.

Saul came to know what he had done and what he deserved. If anyone ever deserved to be snuffed out under the Divine Thumb, it was Saul. However, far from wrath and death, Jesus extended love and life to Saul. Moreover, Jesus declared that Saul, formerly the murderous tool of Satan, was now God’s chosen instrument!

Saul never got over God’s grace. Everywhere he tried to tell people that no one anywhere under any circumstances is beyond the reach of the Gospel. Here’s a truth I hope we will remember for the rest of our lives, every day of our lives. No one anywhere under any circumstances is beyond the reach of the Gospel!

Pastor Rob

The Hope of the World

Brad Powell pastors a dynamic church just down the road in Plymouth. Under his leadership, the NorthRidge Church has made great strides in the advance of the Kingdom. Brad says, “The church is the hope of the world – when it is working right.” (I know by referencing Brad Powell I may have just lost some readers, but I suppose any successful writer must remember what any successful leader knows intuitively – you choose whom you will lose).

I agree with Pastor Powell. “The church is the hope of the world – when it is working right.” The trouble is most churches do not appear to be working right. Today, 92-94 percent churches are plateaued or dying. That doesn’t sound like prime conditions for hope enterprises, does it?

In a recent message at First Baptist Church, I posed seven questions and seven implications for the church from Jesus’ declarations in Matthew 16:13-19. I thought you might benefit from this outline. It would be worth your time to read the Bible passage before you finish this article. Frankly, a best first practice is always to start with what Jesus says.

1. Who do people say Jesus is? People then and now publish all kinds of ideas about who Jesus of Nazareth is or was. Jesus does not ask His disciples this question in order to get information for Himself. Christ followers need to know and understand who people think Jesus is. This is vital to engage our culture in meaningful and winsome dialogue.

2. Who do we say Jesus is? We need to know and understand Who Jesus actually is. If Jesus is Who He claims to be, this represents quintessential truth, truth upon which eternity hangs for every human being. The living church must tell people Who Jesus Christ is and why it matters. To do so, we must know what, why, and Whom we believe.

3. How do we know Who Jesus is? Jesus says the Father reveals this to us. We cannot get this by our own logic or study or religious practice; although, these are invaluable aids to any truth seeker. Ultimately, knowing Jesus is a gift from God. As we engage the world, then, we must trust God to reveal the Truth more than our ability to win debates.

4. Who does Jesus say Simon, son of Jonah, is? Jesus calls him Peter, literally, “petros,” which means a piece of rock. Then He contrasts Rocky with the “petra,” or great solid rock of Simon’s declaration: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Our confession and conduct should earn us a designation – a nickname, if you will – that reflects our commitment to the Truth.

5. Who does Jesus say we are? Jesus has moved from “Who do people say I am?” to “Who do you say I am?” to “I say you are blessed of God and rock-like” to “I say all who know Me like Peter does will be among My ‘called out ones.’” He calls us His “ekklesia,” His church. To be called out implies purpose, a purpose which originates from the One Who called for the assembly. We are the people of His purpose.

6. What does Jesus pledge to do? We should expect Jesus to do what He promises to do. He guarantees He will build His church. Most church-goers grant mental assent to this notion but then act as if we are responsible to build His church.

7. What do we, His church, do? For our part, Jesus expects us to be and to do what He called us to be and to do.

a. Overpower the gates of Hades

b. Employ the keys of the kingdom – the Gospel witness

i. To bind those already bound in heaven (unbelievers).

ii. To set free those already set free in heaven (believers).

“… I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18).

The problem is that most churches are not working right today. Today, 92-94 percent of churches are plateaued or dying.

Pastor Rob

Life Lessons for Mother's Day

Several years ago, I must have heard or read a wonderful Mother’s Day message preached from Proverbs 1:7-9. The message was so simple and practical, I remembered it for a long time afterwards. The margins of the Bible I was using at that time still bear the outline, “Seven Life Lessons for Mother’s Day.” I thought I would share this outline with you today.

Begin with Scripture (always the best place to start). Proverbs 1:7-9 says:

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
⁸ Listen, my son, to your father's instruction, and don’t reject your mother's teaching,
⁹ for they will be a garland of grace on your head, and a [gold] chain around your neck (HCSB).

1. The first lesson we should learn is to honor our mothers. Even a great king, even the wisest man who ever lived, will bow to Momma. God chose the truthful sayings of wise King Solomon to convey truth about Himself in Scripture. For all his fame, for all his riches, and for all his splendor, even though they eventually brought ruin and apostasy to his life, Solomon never forgot to honor his mother, Bathsheba. Consider the model Solomon gives all sons and daughters with his reception of his mother as recorded in 1 Kings 2:19.

So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne, and had a throne placed for the king's mother. So, she sat down at his right hand.

We should honor our mothers. They are not perfect. Neither were Bathsheba or Solomon. Neither are any of us. Still, we should bestow upon our moms dignity and respect. For what it is worth, the One Man Who is perfect, Jesus, honored His mother, even seeing to her care as He hung on a cross!

2. The family is God’s idea. The Bible assumes a mom and a dad will speak into their children’s lives. “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching” (Proverbs 1:8). Families are not merely some social entity derived from behavioral or social instincts. No, God ordained the institution and design of family in creation. The first two chapters of the Bible clarify God’s original intent for families:

²⁷ So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.
²⁸ God blessed them, and said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth ...” (Genesis 1:27-28). … This is why a man leaves his father and his mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

God’s idea is that one man and one woman raise children who will know Him and make Him known. Families are His first plan to declare His glory among the nations. So, family is an important value to God, and should be to us!

3. To that end, family is God's basic school to teach children how to live in the world. Dad is to be an instructor and Mom is to be a teacher. So, the family is a school. Not only should families “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth …,” but God’s idea is that our families fill the earth people who know how to live in this world and be ready for the next.

4. The beginning of this knowledge, the core curriculum for the God’s school called family, is the fear of the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (verse 7). The basic theme of all of Mom and Dad’s tutelage in our lives should be the fear of the Lord. The words parents use, the way they live, all they convey to the next generation by declaration or deed, should be informed by and intended to promote the fear of the Lord. (We will discuss in more detail the fear of the Lord in this morning’s talk).

5. God’s Word says both fathers and mothers must share the responsibility to teach the family. He does not say, "Dads instruct, and moms change diapers." He does not say, "Dads work, so they are not responsible to teach their children." He does not say, "Moms work, so they can pass the responsibility to teach onto a care-giver." No, God says fathers instruct, and mothers teach. They both share this enormous responsibility.

6. God expects children to learn from their moms and dads. When children learn from their parents the fear of the Lord, their hearts are sealed and steadied against temptation and tragedy. When children, 4 or 14 or 40 or 80 years old, live what they learn, they honor their parents, one of God’s Top Ten Commands (Exodus 20:12), and so they honor God.

7. God promises a reward to sons and daughters who listen to and learn and live the lessons godly parents teach. These life lessons will be a will be “a garland of grace on your head, and a [gold] chain around your neck” (verse 9). Though we may not always feel like this is true, God-centered living and instruction is a source of tremendous joy and fulfillment. God guarantees these life lessons will adorn our lives and our children’s lives like victory crowns. In addition, lives grounded in the fear of the Lord will find “strong confidence, a fountain of life,” (Proverbs 14:26-27) and the road to life, so they will be able to “sleep at night without danger” (Proverbs 19:23).

Little wonder, then that Paul writes, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right. Honor your father and mother – which is the first commandment with promise – that it may go well with you may have a long life in the land” (Ephesians 20:12). What we call “traditional family values” bear a striking resemblance to God’s original family values.

To the ends of the earth until the end of time!

Pastor Rob

Such Love

Inevitable. Unavoidable. Inescapable. Even in the post-modern flush of our day, when apparently the only absolute is there are no absolutes, we all know some things in life are simply bound to happen … absolutely certain. Perhaps no two certainties are more universally accepted than death and taxes. At least, most of us assume the inevitable nature of death, which has served as a standard for the assurance of taxation in western thinking since Daniel Defoe linked death and taxes in 1726. Nearly 100 years later, Benjamin Franklin famously declared, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Perhaps it is part of our human nature, though, to try to escape the inescapable. Tell a child, “Don’t touch,” and they will race to touch. Tell a man, “You have to do such and such,” and he will set himself to prove you wrong. Some of our race have become quite adept, even profitable, at the discovery and manipulation of loop holes in tax laws to avoid the proverbially unavoidable – taxes. None but the most deluded of us, however, can lay claim to keeping from death its due. Regardless of the value or credence a person assigns to religion, we all know that all living things die, including people. Some folks may get out of taxes, but no one gets around death.

Still, I am most surprised by how surprised we are when death happens in our circles of influence. We know death is coming, but we seem to buzz on with living as if everybody dies except us and those we love. Then we are positively shocked that death would touch us. Margaret Mitchell quipped in her little 1936 book, Gone with the Wind, “Death, taxes, and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.” Surely, death is difficult to calendar, unless we employ unnatural means to that end. We should not be surprised, though, when death happens, should we?

Twist #1: I forget when or where this concept was introduced to me, but an idea about death set my feet on a path to life. The observable discomfort and borderline rebellion of our nature’s against death suggests we were not made to die. Think about this. The reason we find death itself unreasonable and unwelcome is simply that God did not mean for us to die.

God created man to enjoy eternal, unfettered bliss. He did not fashion Adam and Eve to die after 80 years in Eden. In fact, when Adam sinned, and all mankind was cursed, God expelled them from the garden and set a guard to prevent them from entering again in their now fallen state. Why? Because, if they stayed in the Garden of Eden they could have continued to eat from the Tree of Life and never die. Although, that sounds like a good thing, God knows to live forever in such a condition as to be alienated from Him is not really living at all. We were designed by God to live forever and to live forever in joyful communion with Him.

Twist #2: Wonderful! We were not made to taste death. However, now the only way to experience eternal life is to experience death. Now we must die if we will ever live. Now we learn that death is actually a special part of God’s plan.

Every day my prayers include petitions, intercessions really, for friends and family members who struggle. Some of the people I care for fight through hurt and heartache and pain and loss. Dreams bludgeoned, careers and savings lost, marriages broken, and health stolen away – these are all reminders to me of the minor inevitable, death.

To be sure, we will all face various degrees of devastation and loss. The lesser reason for this is that the minor inevitable, death, casts a saturating specter over all the inhabitants of these shadowlands, this twisted earth of fallen mankind. The greater reason is that God wants to demonstrate to each of us the major inevitable, His love.

The past two weeks, God has totally overwhelmed me with His love. He mercifully and graciously stopped me in my tracks by the awesome revelation of His great love for me and for you. Hear what His word says:

Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God’s children. And we are! (1 John 3:1).

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Can you make the connection with me? Taxes are not as inevitable as death, after all. People evade taxes every year, but no one eludes death. Get this, though: death (and all its offspring – sickness, suffering, sorrow) is not as inevitable as love, God’s love for you and me! To prove this, God gave His One and Only Son, Jesus, to die for us. Now, His love has made death little more than a door for us who know, love, believe, trust, and obey Him to pass through on the way Home. For us, death serves as a billboard on our journey to remind us to see everything, every pain and sorrow, every disease and disaster, every limit and loss, against the backdrop of His love for us.

God settled once and for all His love for us when Jesus died in our place. Now we know that anything that comes our way must pass through the Father’s heart and be shaped to serve His love for us. God is so powerful and He loves us so much that even death must serve His love for us. Whatever you are going through, God is saying through it, “Child, I love you. I love you with the same love that kept Jesus on the cross for you – eternal, unchanging, inevitable love.”

Pastor Rob

Whose Church?

I have given a great deal of thought, prayer, and study lately to this question: Whose church are we? I have come to a new, deeper appreciation of how we each tend to understand the church we attend, the fellowship of faith with whom we participate, as “our” church. For many of us, in fact, I fear “our” church or “my” church sometimes obscures our view of God’s church. First Baptist Church, South Lyon, must daily determine, member by member, ever and always to be His church. If we are not His church, we are no church at all worth mentioning.

Why is it so important that we be His church? You have heard me talk before about Brad Powell, the lead pastor of the dynamic NorthRidge Church in Plymouth. Brad maintains, “The church is the hope of the world – when it is working right.” The trouble is most churches do not appear to be working right. Today, 92-94 percent churches are plateaued or dying. Where’s the hope in that? If we are not His church, we have no real hope to offer.

The current state of the church is all the more befuddling when we consider what Jesus says about His church: “… I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18). Any honest churchman must at least try to reconcile Jesus’ claim with contemporary evidence. Did Jesus really mean what He said? Was He mistaken?

For my part, I choose to believe Jesus knew full well what He said and implied. Moreover, I am convinced Jesus continues to build His church today and the defenses of darkness continue to crumble before the advance of His church. The issue is not whether or not He will build His church but whether or not what we call church actually represents His church. The question is “Whose church are we talking about – His or ours?”

Here are four descriptions Jesus gives of His church:

1. We are the people of His purpose. Jesus says of His church “all who know Me will be among My ‘called out ones.’” He calls us His ekklesia, His church. To be called out implies purpose. Our purpose originates from the One Who called for the assembly.

2. We are the people of His promise. We expect Jesus to do what He promises to do. He guarantees He will build His church. Most church-goers grant mental assent to this notion but act as if we are responsible to build His church.

3. We are the people of His priority. For our part, Jesus expects us, His church, to use the keys of the kingdom – the Gospel witness. The living church must tell people Who Jesus Christ is and why it matters.

4. Finally, we are the people of His power. Jesus’ church does not merely endure storms and siege. His church is not under attack but on the attack. We who live for His purpose, rely on His promise, and maintain His priority can be confident – we are the people of His power.

Whose church? Jesus’ church, and His alone! That anyone would think that I as pastor would even imagine trying to make His church “Rob’s” church horrifies me. Two statements from this week’s unit of Experiencing God brought my study of Jesus’ church to bear on my personal life and call to ministry.

1. On page 35, Henry Blackaby observed: “We cause some of the wreck and ruin in our churches because we have a plan. We implement the plan and accomplish only what we can do. We ask God to bless our plans, and then we promise to give Him the glory when He does. Yet God is not glorified by making our plans succeed. He receives glory when His will is done in His way.”

I reword this statement in a prayer like this:

Lord God, I love Your church! I am so honored to be a part of the beautiful body of Christ, and I am thrilled to serve and shepherd this precious flock. But, my Lord, I know I can “cause some of the wreck and ruin in” Your church precisely because I have a plan, my plan, and I work to implement that plan. Father, I will not ask you to bless my plans. You are not glorified by making my plans succeed. Keep me ever from being such a sad hindrance to Your church and Your glory. Manifest the truth about Yourself, King Jesus, by doing Your will Your way.

2. “Understanding what God is about to do where you are is more important than telling God what you want to do for Him” (p 37).

My prayer:

Lord, I know it is more important for me to know what You are about to do and for me to adjust to Your activity than for me to tell You my plans. Please illumine me. Illumine us, Your people, Your church. Show us Your plan.

Repeatedly, my thoughts turn to the attitude of John the Baptist.

No one can receive a single thing unless its given to him from heaven. … He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete. He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:27-30).

Whose church? His church!

Pastor Rob

Truth Does Indeed Transform

With honor to the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, I borrow from the title of his radio broadcasts, “Truths that Transform.” I simply cannot think of a more apt way to describe the ministry of God’s Word in the life of any believer who would make himself subject to Scripture. Our first full week in Experiencing God reminds me that Truth does indeed transform.

One of the features I find most helpful in the Experiencing God study is the daily review. At the end of each daily lesson, we review what we have learned in three parts:

1. What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture you read today?

2. Rewrite the statement or Scripture into a prayer response to God.

3. What does God want you to do in response to today’s study?

Here are four profound statements that brought renewed focus to my life this week:

1. “Anyone who takes time to enter an intimate relationship with God can see Him do extraordinary things through his or her life” (p 27).

I reworded this statement in the form of a prayer.

Dear God, help me invest anew in an intimate walk with You. The most extraordinary thing You would ever do through me would necessarily begin with this intimacy. And this intimacy is extraordinary enough.

2. “When you believe nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have declared about yourself” (p 27).

I would reword this statement in a prayer perhaps very familiar to many of you by now:

Father, I believe You are Who You say You are. I believe You can do what You say You can do. And I believe I am who You say that I am. Lord, like the desperate father of the demon-possessed boy I plead, “I believe; help Thou my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

3. “The people we generally see in the Scriptures were ordinary. Their relationships with God and the activity of God made them extraordinary.”

My prayer:

Almighty God, I would be so bold and outrageous as to expect You, the extraordinary Redeemer King, to make much of Yourself, to bring renown to Your name, even through someone as ordinary as me. Be glorified!

4. I found the words of our Savior to be the most meaningful to me this week. Jesus says: “I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me” (John 15:5).

What a tremendous and marvelous testament to God’s grace this reality is! I do not deserve the privilege that is mine to be your pastor. No man is worthy of such an honor. Indeed, I am not redeemed by any merit of my own. I am not His son or His servant because of any good in me. I know painfully well that I can do nothing of kingdom value apart from Christ.

As a branch, I owe all my sustenance to the gracious provision of the Vine. Based entirely on His good pleasure and grace, the Vine supplies us with all we need to grow and be fruitful. Furthermore, the Vine supports the branches for His own purposes. Branches have no purpose of their own except that given them by the Vine, chiefly, to produce much fruit.

Grace, grace – God’s grace – grace that will pardon and cleanse within!
Grace, grace – God’s grace – grace that is greater than all our sin!

Oh, beloved, how completely dependent we all are upon the matchless, marvelous, infinite grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!

What a tremendous and marvelous testament to God’s glory this reality is! The Vine produces fruit and flower to the praise of His nature through fragile branches that wither up like twigs apart from vital union with Him. God displays His power, wisdom, and character for all of heaven and earth to behold through frail failures like me. How wonderful! How marvelous! That God Most High makes so much of Himself through such as us. It is to the praise of His glory not only that He can but also that He chooses to do so! Lord, I’m amazed!

So, I pray the words of Jesus:

My Lord, my Vine, You alone are the source of my salvation and strength. I am in awe of Your desire and design to channel Your will and work and ways through me for Your purposes. All that the Vine is You make available to the branches. Thank You for Your promise to remain in me. I desperately want to remain in You, Lord. Hold me fast to Yourself. Make me faithful and fruitful for Your glory.

What does God want me to do in response? Be His, be still, be fruitful, and believe. What does God want you to do?

Pastor Rob